007 First Light First Hours Walkthrough: What to Do First

Your first few hours in 007 First Light determine how the rest of the campaign plays out. The right early decisions unlock better gear faster. The wrong ones leave you grinding missions you could have breezed through.

I learned most of this the hard way, replaying the MI6 Training mission three times before I even understood what the game was asking of me. Here's how to spend your first hours efficiently.

The opening: MI6 Training at headquarters.

Your first run through the training mission teaches basic movement, cover, and gadget use. Follow the on-screen prompts. Get comfortable with crouch movement, hold the crouch button and your detection radius drops by roughly 60%. This is the single most important mechanical habit in the game and the tutorial treats it like an afterthought.

Complete the tutorial once normally. Then replay it with a different approach: go for zero alerts. Silent takedown every enemy, don't fire a single bullet if you can avoid it. Completing the tutorial with zero alerts unlocks the Suppressor blueprint. The game absolutely does not tell you this. I found out by accident on my third replay when I was trying to figure out why some players had suppressors in London Docks and I didn't.

The Watch Laser is your most important tool and the tutorial barely explains it. Hold the scan button to reveal patrol routes through walls for about 8 seconds. This works on every mission. Scan every room before entering. Mark every guard. The information advantage is worth more than any weapon.

London Docks: your first real mission.

Malta's harbor district is your second mission and it's where you start getting real gear. The armory in the west wing has the MCX Spear, grab it. The MCX Spear is better than the PPK in every way: more damage, larger magazine, suppressor compatibility. Use it for the rest of the game.

There's a civilian dock worker in a blue cap near the north pier. Talk to him before engaging any guards. He gives you the armory door code. This saves you lockpicking or shooting your way in, which means no alert.

Hidden crate near the cargo area with a Throwing Knife. The crate is easy to miss, it's tucked behind some containers and doesn't glow or have a marker. Use the Watch Laser scan to spot it through objects. The Throwing Knife is silent and retrievable. One-shots unarmored enemies. Takes practice to aim, the arc is steeper than you'd expect.

By the end of London Docks, you should have: MCX Spear, Throwing Knife, and the Suppressor blueprint (if you replayed the tutorial). Your gadget slots should have Watch Laser and Frag Grenade. This is a solid early game setup.

Mission order matters.

The game gives you some flexibility but the optimal path is: MI6 Training → London Docks → Moscow Intel → Cairo Embassy → Venice Gala → Arctic Base → Dubai Finale. Deviating from this order doesn't break anything but you might hit missions under-geared.

After London Docks, you can either push to Moscow Intel or replay London Docks for a better rating. Replaying for Ghost (zero detections) is worth it if you want to unlock the Stealth Suit faster, you need 3 Ghost-rated missions total. But don't try to ghost Moscow Intel on your first pass. You don't have the tools yet.

Moscow Intel: the first real test.

Set in Slovakia, this mission introduces armored enemies and Enforcers. If you've been relying on the PPK, you're about to have a bad time. The MCX Spear with at least damage level 2 is the minimum. Bring Frag Grenades, they're your only reliable answer to Enforcers in the early game.

The mission has tight corridors and limited verticality. Stealth is hard here by design. Don't stress about the rating. Get through it, unlock the AK-47 (which you get by completing Moscow Intel), and move on.

Resource spending in the first 3 hours.

Spend your first credits on the Suppressor attachment. Not new weapons, not gadget upgrades, not armor. Suppressor first, always. A suppressed primary weapon changes how you approach every single encounter.

After the suppressor, upgrade the MCX Spear's damage to level 3. Then save Weapon Parts for the Pen Grenade (unlocked after Cairo Embassy Ghost run) and Grapple Watch (unlocked during Venice Gala). Don't craft early gadget upgrades, they're not worth the parts.

Credits after the suppressor: buy Body Armor consumables before Moscow Intel. The extra survivability against Enforcers on your first pass through that mission is worth it.

Civilian informants: the game's hidden help system.

Every mission has 1-3 civilian NPCs in distinctive clothing who give you intel if you talk to them before engaging. London Docks has the dock worker in the blue cap. Moscow Intel has a journalist in a brown coat near the train station. Cairo Embassy has a diplomat's assistant in a red hijab near the courtyard.

These NPCs give you keycards, safe codes, and route information that the game never provides through the UI. IO Interactive put them there as a reward for players who explore before shooting. I missed every single one on my first playthrough because I was too busy crouching toward the objective marker.

The 30-second rule that changes everything.

When you enter a new area, guards are in patrol mode for about 30 seconds. During that window, they have conversations that contain real intel, door codes, patrol schedules, alternate routes. Wait and listen before engaging. On London Docks, the guards at the armory entrance discuss the door code if you wait 20 seconds. On Moscow Intel, two guards near the server room discuss a vent entrance that bypasses the entire room.

This mechanic is never explained in-game. It's classic IO Interactive, they build systems and let players discover them.

What NOT to do in your first 3 hours.

Don't buy new weapons before upgrading the MCX Spear. A half-upgraded AK-47 is worse than a maxed Spear, and you get the AK-47 for free by completing Moscow Intel anyway.

Don't try to ghost Moscow Intel on your first run. You don't have the Stealth Suit. You don't have the Pen Grenade. You'll just die a lot.

Don't skip replays. The game gates its best gear behind replay challenges, Stealth Suit requires 3 Ghost ratings, Pen Grenade requires a Ghost on Cairo Embassy specifically. If you never replay missions, you never get these.

Don't craft any gadget upgrades before mission 4. Save every Gadget Part for the Pen Grenade and Grapple Watch. Trust me on this one.

By the end of your first session, roughly 3-4 hours, you should have: MCX Spear suppressed with at least damage level 2, Throwing Knife, Frag Grenade + Watch Laser combo, and a solid understanding of how crouch movement and detection work. You should also know about civilian informants and the 30-second conversation rule. From here, push to Moscow Intel and start building toward Cairo Embassy and the Pen Grenade. The real game opens up around hour 8.